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Two Delaware County deputy sheriffs who left an intoxicated man at a Taco Bell restaurant could
face criminal charges, according to a State Highway Patrol report.

The patrol and sheriff’s office are investigating whether the deputies might be guilty of
dereliction of duty, a misdemeanor. The deputies, Derek Beggs and Christopher Hughes, have been
placed on leave. The Delaware city prosecutors’ office will decide whether to charge the deputies;
the office expects to have the investigation records next week.

The investigation centers on what the deputies should have done with Uriel Juarez Popoca, a
22-year-old man they found in his car on the median on I-71 on July 28.

The deputies took Popoca, who appeared drunk, to a Taco Bell on Rt. 36/37 near the interstate
and left him there with instructions to call for a ride home. That was about 9:30 p.m.

An hour later, Popoca was dead.

But before he died, according to 911 calls from that night, he wandered through the restaurant
and followed the manager outside when she called for help.

When the manager, Stevie Ray, called 911, she said Popoca spoke little English but asked her to
call the police.

“He’s drunk,” Ray said during the call. “I have no idea what he’s saying to me; he has no idea
what I’m saying to him.”

A Delaware County deputy on the other end of that call asked whether Popoca was causing a
problem.

“Our guys just dropped him off — he is waiting on a ride,” said the deputy, who is not
identified during the call. “His ride should be there shortly to pick him up.”

Ray first called for help about 9:45 p.m.

About 10:30 p.m., a driver called 911 to say he’d hit a man walking along Rt. 36/37. The driver,
Jeffrey Detmer of Findlay, said he could not talk to a reporter on the advice of his attorney.

A State Highway Patrol trooper who got to Popoca’s car on I-71 after Beggs and Hughes arrived
has been placed on desk duty until the investigation is finished. The Highway Patrol has not
released the trooper’s name.